Finalist in the 2019 Writers Contest – Health & Well-Being Category
See the Writers Contest rules and full ongoing list of finalists

Think of the digestive system like an automobile’s fuel and exhaust system. If you put the wrong fuel type or use poor-quality fuel, the result will be poor performance and premature wear and breakdown. The symptoms can
First Step – Analyze your diet and eliminate processed food.
Second Step – Are you suffering specific symptoms? Certain foods like
Third Step – Improve your gut health. While we aren’t going to recommend specific remedies, improving your gut (also known as your second brain) should be incorporated. A great resource is this interview with Naveen Jain.
Switch From Coffee To Tea
You may be a coffee drinker. Coffee can cause digestion issues because of its high acid content and caffeine content. You may want to limit OR eliminate coffee in your tests.
Consider tea PART of the diet. First, it can be used as your primary fluid intake instead of water. Secondly, tea will contain less caffeine than coffee. Most herbal teas contain no caffeine. A combination of regular and herbal tea consumed throughout the day will allow you to enjoy the benefits of tea without overdosing on caffeine.
Tea Recommendations for Digestion
Pu-erh – The After-Meal Tea
Pu-erh tea is fermented tea that has its own unique health properties. For hundreds of years, the Chinese have used Pu-erh tea to aid in digestion after meals. Pu-erh has also been linked with weight loss and lower cholesterol. Since Pu-erh contains modest amounts of caffeine, it will help make the body more efficient at digestion. Drink it either in the morning or after lunch. Plain Pu-erh has any earthy flavor which is an acquired taste. Luckily there are numerous flavored Pu-erh teas that are masterfully blended to be delicious. Additionally, there are numerous blends that contain a mixture of teas including Pu-erh.
Herbal Tea For Digestion
There are numerous herbs that have been used for many years to alleviate various ailments including digestion. Drinking these herbs or blends that contain them is a great way to introduce digestion-friendly ingredients into your diet.
Peppermint
Peppermint is often the primary ingredient used in the relief of gastrointestinal disorders because it helps calm the stomach. This is one of the herbs commonly consumed by itself.
Chamomile
This herb has been used for indigestion, acidity, bloating, nausea, and gastritis. You can drink it alone but there are plenty of blends that include Chamomile.
Ginger Root
Ginger helps stimulate saliva, bile, and gastric juice production. Drink before or pair it with a meal.
Fennel
A popular use of this herb is for digestive upsets and settling stomach pain.
Lemon Balm
Another tea that has been used for over 2,000 years to treat a variety of digestive issues.
Licorice Root
Licorice root contains
Pro-Biotic Tea
Pu-erh–while it is fermented–is not “alive” when you drink it. The live tea would be kombucha. It is available in most grocery stores, and can also be home brewed. Because it contains live cultures like yogurt or Kefir, it would be something to drink to improve your gut health.
In Conclusion
Think of tea as a low-dose medicine. Drinking it in moderation throughout the day will expose your body to antioxidants or other beneficial properties from herbs. No one tea is going to be a magic bullet. Diet–with tea being part of it–will be one of the easiest ways to start. If your symptoms do not go away or are severe, consider meeting with a nutritionist.
I love your focus on tea and digestion, incorporating the benefits of Camellia sinensis (true tea) with different herbs frequently used in blends. You’ve made the distinction between the probiotic benefits of Kombucha and Puerh. I’ve heard so many discussions about how the process of brewing Puerh with hot water changes the probiotic benefits? The benefits of tea and herbs are fascinating for all of us and important to put into perspective as important tools in our health management. But not the “magic bullet”. Thanks.
This is a subject I’ve been considering in a couple of related ways recently. A co-worker had been drinking coffee and matcha and had stomach problems, and wasn’t aware that green tea and matcha are the most potentially problematic for stomach issues (which this might have mentioned, looking at the issue from that opposite point of view, what might already be causing problems). I’ve looked into probiotics some too but that subject gets complicated. Research on what works best, for example in recovery from use of antibiotics, isn’t clearly settled, and what people tend to discuss is a collection of hearsay (eg. eat kim chi, sauerkraut, or yogurt; even the parts about pu’er and kombucha). Pu’er does contain live bacteria and fungus but it’s not clear to what extent brewing kills them, or if any could function as a positive input for a digestive system biome. The general suggestions here seem fine, to avoid processed foods and go with trial and error beyond that. Using caution in drinking a lot of tea without food is probably a relevant issue, since some people really do drink 2 liters of tea a day, or more.
It is extremely important to note that licorice root can cause high blood pressure. There have been numerous scientific studies that confirm this: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4480140/
It can be dangerous even in small doses.